Outsider
by Recidivism
Summary: Starrk awakes up in Seireitei with foggy memories after the winter war. While searching for Lilynette, a scuffle with a bunch of annoying shinigami draws unwanted attention from a certain sake loving Taichou and his white hair companion.
1. Prologue

Outsiders

Rated T

No pairings as of yet.

Summary: Starrk awakes up in Seireitei with foggy memories after the winter war. While searching for Lilynette, a scuffle with a bunch of annoying shinigami draws unwanted attention from a certain sake loving Taichou and his white hair companion.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of it's components.

* * *

**Prologue**

I am not alone.

xXx

_The man regarded his younger female counterpart with something akin to interest. Curiosity for the child that was once a part of him -or who he was before- was barely hidden within his gaze. The girl carefully avoided his scrutinization and stared steadily at the sand._

_They sat in comfortable silence. Neither were willing to disturb the peace between them. For a long time, not one of them spoke. Until the man broke the silence._

_"...Do you have a name?" He sounded unsure of himself. But his stare pinned the green haired girl down._

_A few seconds later, the girl replied. "...Lilynette." She spoke softly, with a voice that hadn't been used for a long time. She peered shyly from under her fringe and through her helmet. "What about you, do you have a name?" Lilynette paused, before continuing. "Even though you're me."_

_His name? The man glanced uncomprehendingly at the odd girl who was him yet at the same time was not. What was his name? Did he had one? _

xXx

I am **not** alone.

xXx

_'Starrk. My name is Coyote Starrk.' A voice told him._

_"Starrk." He blinked. **Starrk. **He didn't know where that might have came from but somehow... it felt right. It was then he notice their nude forms._

_A ragged cloak was unceremoniously tossed to the girl. She took it almost gingerly and wrapped the cloth around her._

_"...Starrk..." If Starrk noticed how Lilynette spoke his name slowly, as if savouring the word, he didn't comment nor react in any form. Together, the two sat on the dry sand, watching the lone moon in the sky._

_A second silence similar to the first filled the air. This one, however, lasted much shorter. "Starrk." Lilynette whispered. Her voice was so soft, had it not been for Starrk's keen senses, he wouldn't have heard her. He didn't reply, silently waiting for the girl -me- to speak her mind._

_"What will we do now...?"_

xXx

I... am not alone.

xXx

_Starrk stared vacantly at the moon, the question echoing in his mind._

_'What will we do now?'_

_Much like how he knew his name, the answer to the girl's question was instinctive._

_"We can do anything." He kept his back faced to her, waiting for her reply. It came quick enough._

_"...Okay." He could feel her gaze upon him. "Then... Where shall we go?"_

_"Wherever." Starrk answered easily without turning. Her stare became more intense. For reasons he could not explain, he could feel an odd sense of longing and desperation for a companion (a friend, somebody, anyone will do) from the girl - something that he understood all too clearly. They were both of the same soul._

xXx

I...

Lilynette...

I am...

xXx

_"But..." Starrk still didn't turn back. But he knew he had the green haired girl's full attention. A soft smile crossed his face. "Let's stick together."_

_Lilynette smiled too._

xXx

I... I am...

...alone?

xXx

_"Forever."_

xXx

With that last thought resonating in his mind, he took his last breath.

...

_Or was it...?_

* * *

"Nhhnn..." Starrk groaned. It was bright.

Far too bright.

The Primera Espada murmured something unhappily and flung the back of his hand over his eyes in a futile attempt to block out the light. Why was it so bright anyway? Starrk's forehead creased together to form a slight frown. He didn't remember turning the lights on in the first place and were they supposed to be this bright...?

An eye opened. Followed by the other.

Starrk blinked dazedly at the open sky. Upon realising that the sky was indeed real, and he had not been hallucinating, he leisurely got to his feet. Unhurried, he surveyed his surroundings. And stared uncomprehendingly at what he saw. At the birds twittering on the trees around him. At the lush green field with colourful flowers of every kind scattered throughout the area. At the town buzzing with activity beneath the mountain he stood on.

Starrk flopped back onto the ground.

What happened? Where was everyone? Surely Aizen-sama hadn't just abandoned him, had he?

A split second passed. Then, it all came back to him. The war against shinigami. The odd half-hollow beings. The captains rallying. Aizen-sama betraying him and the other espadas. It was all distorted to him though, he could hardly make out the faces of any of the captains. The clearest image he could conjure of his opponents was a splash of pink and white, shadows, blood and wolves. Wolves. _Lilynette._

**_Lilynette._**

Where was she? Starrk sat up straight, back stiff and shoulders tensed. He instinctively felt for the link between him and Lilynette that they formed years ago, reaching out to her, to her mind, to anything. The bond was so close, just within his reach, if only he could grasp it...

_No! _Starrk gasped out loud as the link slipped through his fingers like liquid. _Lilynette... _The former Primera very nearly cried out in distress, but the emotions present on his face spoke all his words for him. He tried searching for the bond again, only for it to seemingly dissipate the moment his fingers brushed it.

He slumped back onto the ground, defeated. His only consolation was in the fact that Lilynette was still alive, as the bond was still present but being irritatingly illusive. He couldn't say much for her health. Which concerned him greatly.

The former Espada lay on the patch of grass, unmoving. Soon, he drifted off to sleep, the stress and worry from the war finally taking its toll on him.

Had he actually paid attention to his current state of being, he would have noticed the few but noticeable changes made to his body, such as his missing bone bits, odd clothing and a gun fastened to his belt.

Not to mention his very distinct lack of a hollow hole.

* * *

Elsewhere, in the slums of Rukongai district 79, a young green haired girl shook her head in confusion at the hurricane of emotions invading her mind. Why did she felt like that anyway? She had an inkling that those emotions were not her own... Nah, that's impossible. The girl rubbed her head once more to ward off the headache she had felt coming. 'Lilynette...' She frowned. _Lilynette... _Why did that name sounded so familiar? And that disembodied voice speaking to her... why did she feel like she should know it?

"Lilynette." The girl spoke, testing the new word out. Was that her name? Slowly, she smiled.

She liked it.

* * *

Author's Note: Cuz I love Starrk and Lilynette. I love Shunsui and Jushiro too. Updates will probably be irregular, with me being a typical ass and busy as hell. Sorry if the characters were too OOC for yeh liking. Reviewing would make the author very happy.


	2. Chapter 1

Outsiders

Rated T

No pairings as of yet.

Summary: Starrk awakes up in Seireitei with foggy memories after the winter war. While searching for Lilynette, a scuffle with a bunch of annoying shinigami draws unwanted attention from a certain sake loving Taichou and his white hair companion.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its components.

A/N: Caught a fever. Have been sick for four days straight now. It's nice to know that people read this.

Enter Juushiro and Shunsui.

* * *

Juushiro let out a barely audible sigh. A hand flicked through the many piles of paper situated on his table while his eyes skimmed through the contents of a document. His free hand reached out to snag the cup of tea his 3rd seats conveniently prepared for him (while squabbling) and drained more than half of it- an indication to how fatigued he was.

The war against Aizen had been every bit gruesome and bloody as predicted, if not more. Both sides fought viciously against the other, blood(and skin) was shed. The battle was long and tough, eventually, the Shinigami emerged victorious, but suffering just as many casualties as Aizen's army.

Most of the surviving arrancar had been tracked down and exterminated. A few were left to the 12th division to be experimented on and used as lab rats. Juushiro couldn't help but wince at that thought- they may be hollows but there was a very good reason why the majority of Gotei 13's population steered clear from Mayuri Kurotsuchi. The remnants of the Espada still alive were never found, presumed to be either dead or hidden in Hueco Mundo.

Juushiro wondered what had happened to the little girl and wolf espada he and Shunsui fought. War was no place for children to be, they should be somewhere too far away for the clutches of death and violence to reach, and were too young for this sort of things. But there was nothing he could do. They were Aizen's arrancar, no matter how docile or friendly they may be. He could only wish them peace and luck in their next life.

A knock on the door drew Juushiro from his thoughts. Shunsui's voice yelled something muffled from outside his office.

"Juu-chan! I am coming in!" The shoji door slid open, revealing Shunsui, with his usual pink haori draped over his shoulders, a jovial smile on his face. In his hands was a bottle of sake. The man-made his way over to Juushiro's desk, dragging a chair over and settling down. Juushiro sighed, exasperated, but couldn't quite keep the smile from his face.

"Shunsui, you do know that I still have piles of paperwork to be finished?" The white-headed man gently chided his counterpart. "I am quite certain that you do have your fair share of work to be done too."

Shunsui didn't even have the decency to look sheepish and instead waved his hand dismissively. "Maa, those blasted things should be burned to ashes a long time ago. They can wait. You have been cooped up here for so long, having a bit of sake will not do you any harm." He promptly shoved some paperwork and Juushiro's tea away to make space, plonking the drink on the table. Juushiro shook his head, but reached for the sake cups underneath, reserved for occasions like this, all too used to his friend's antics.

* * *

Starrk wandered around the edge of the forest aimlessly, never too far from civilization.

The former arrancar watched the civilians of Rukongai go about their daily lives with barely disguised curiosity, taking in the foreign sights, and generally giving everything that neared him a wide berth. Since he arrived in this new strange place, he found it much easier to control his still massive reserves of reiatsu, suppressing it to the point where he was sure no negative effects would be felt by the souls. But doing so still requires a large amount of concentration on his part. Maintaining this level of reiatsu even more so.

When he woke up just around an hour ago, Starrk noticed that he no longer had a hollow hole. Coupled with his unusual surroundings and the presence of ordinary souls, he concluded he had some how been purified by the shinigami and ended up where he now was, which could be Soul Society. Or not. It still did not explain his change of clothes, no matter how comfortable they are.

After stabilizing his aura, Starrk tentatively neared the district, still keeping to the forest edge. He steeled his resolve. First objective, find Lilynette. Then he was off.

* * *

And of course, something just had to get in his way. Starrk stared at the small group of pesky shinigami surrounding him, backing him against the wall, notably unimpressed.

The former Arrancar, not comfortable with any form of contact with the souls, took to the roofs where he would less likely be spotted. It did help that he was moving at a fast pace, such that the only thing most civilians would see -should they look up- is a blur.

Sadly, it seemed that his stint across the rooftops did not go unnoticed by the local group of low-reiatsu level shinigami loitering around. He reluctantly made his way down as they ordered, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself. Which thus landed him in this situation.

"You," A fat shinigami made his way closer to Starrk, puffing up his chest, quite noticeably not liking their height differences. He sneered at Starrk's non-committal grunt. Starrk noted that he was most likely the ringleader of the lot. The obese man opened his mouth again to speak. "Who are you?"

Starrk stared at the bunch with disregard, grumbling at his predicament. "It's not your business." The lackeys flanking the leader hissed at his answer, looking at him with contempt. A pair of unaffected blue-grey eyes stared back.

The lead shinigami's mouth twisted into a snarl. "Listen, I'm a shinigami, and you are just a worthless piece of shit. I'm the authority here. So if I say something, you better do it!"

"No."

The leader's eyes widened, momentarily taken aback by the unexpected answer. The man had just refused him. **Him!** His beady eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you say?"

"I said no." Irritation bled into his voice.

Starrk was beginning to regret letting himself be accosted by this particular group of shinigami. They were getting increasingly tiresome and difficult. He had to find Lilynette, not stand around with a few pathetic shinigami trying to unsuccessfully intimidate him.

"Move." Starrk spoke. Their faces went from smug superiority to rage. The lead shinigami raised a fist as a warning. "Why you littl-"

"I said _move_."

The lead shinigami struck out in blind fury. His fist met a solid wall -Starrk's chest- and his target did not even move an inch. That was saying something, considering how it had been the Shinigami's hand that hurt more than it should while Starrk barely felt anything.

A hand reached out to hold his assailant's wrist in a slightly painful hold, slowly drawing it away from his chest. Regarding his current company with half-lidded eyes, Starrk sighed. He really didn't want to do this. Despite being the Primera, Starrk wasn't one who enjoyed violence. If given a chance to negotiate, he would gladly choose to do so (fighting _is_ troublesome), but unfortunately, the bunch of people in front of him did not seem to be giving him much choice.

Starrk tightened his hold on the shinigami's wrist. The said shinigami gulped.

Similarly, his lackeys felt an impending sense of doom.

* * *

After that severely one-sided beat down, Starrk made his way back to the rooftops, leaving the bodies of the battered and bruised shinigami lying of the streets for everyone to see, only marginally worried about other shinigami bothering him. His scuffle did not go unnoticed by the citizens, around four bore witness to the trouncing, but they didn't seem to look upset or fearful about the incident. In fact, they wore wide, thankful smiles on their faces. Starrk's best guess was that he wasn't the only one accosted by that group of shinigami, who had probably threatened and abused many villagers in the area. One of the four even smiled at him.

Much to Starrk's chagrin (he wanted to keep his presence on the low), news of the local shinigami gang's trashing soon reached the ears of the locals in the area, who then proceeded to spread the news to other parts of the village. Within a day, almost the entire district knew about the 'mysterious brown-haired man with blue-grey eyes' who wiped the floor with the local shinigami gang. Said gang immediately hightailed out of the area with their heads hung low in humiliation. Many wanted to meet their savior who disappeared right after the fight (if it could even be called that), to either thank or reward him.

Not used to receiving this sort of positive attention, Starrk quickly made his way over to (what he presumed was) the next district while remaining undetected. Just a few more corners... He quickened his steps.

He almost succeeded.

_Almost_.

Perhaps it was fate, or destiny. Or just the world trying to screw him over for the many babies he may or may not have cannibalized when he was alive.

In his haste to get away, Stark quite literally Shunpo-ed his way around the last corner. Coincidentally, a certain 8th division captain, who just escaped from his dreaded paperwork and Lieutenant, had been heading in the opposite direction, walking towards Starrk.

Coyote Starrk collided with Kyōraku Shunsui.

So much for first meetings as not-enemies.

* * *

**Author's note**

_Dramatic music plays in the background._

I know. I finally updated.

Feel free to release your wrath upon me.

...On second thought, please don't... _Gah, not the face, not the face, anything but the fac-_

* * *

**Omake**

"Ara?" Yachiru skidded to a halt from her exploring. She peered into the alley way she had just passed, where her sharp ears picked up groans and moans of familiar voices.

Six wounded shinigami sat in a circle, each complaining about a certain brown-haired, grey eyed man.

"That bastard..." A Shinigami growled weakly, nursing his wounds. "The next time I see him, I'm going to beat him up so badly, he will be crying for his mummy by the time I'm done with him!"

The man to his right snorted. "Like you could even land a blow on him. Didn't you piss yourself during the fight?" There were several nods of agreement all around.

The shinigami in question blushed heavily. "Shut up! Like any of you morons did be-!"

"Hello!" There conversation was interrupted by a cheerful voice. Having caught their attention, Yachiru waved at them.

Six frightened and heavily bruised faces peered back at her. And paled.

"Didn't I play with you a week ago?" Yachiru cocked her head to one side, then smiled at them. "Wanna play again?" The group frantically shook their heads.

"Aww..." A pout formed on the lieutenant's face. "But I'm bored!" Her eyes lit up again. "I know! Lets play tag! At the count of five, I will start chasing you!"

The unfortunate playmates began whimpering.

* * *

Thank you all for reading.

Special thanks to those who reviewed. Now, I must go on an epic journey to defeat the (non-existent)evil which has plagued the universe, and fulfill my (also non-existent)destiny.

Farewell.

...

And if you could leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated.


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